
%0 Journal Article
%A Gosden, Roger G. 
%A Faddy, Malcolm J. 
%T Biological bases of premature ovarian failure
%J Reproduction, Fertility and Development
%D 1998/08/12
%V 10
%N 1
%P 73-78
%K 
%R https://doi.org/10.1071/R98043
%U https://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/R98043 
%X The ovary is endowed at birth with a fixed number of primordial follicles, which steadily dwindles throughout life as a result of atresia and recruitment towards ovulation. In addition to age, the number varies allometrically between species, larger and longer-lived animals tending to have more follicles initially and these disappear at a slower rate. A causal relationship between follicle depletion and menopause clearly exists, and there is a gradual acceleration of follicle wastage in the human ovary beginning more than a decade before the end of menstrual life. A mathematical model has provided confirmatory evidence of this relationship, and indicates that menopause is triggered by a threshold number of follicles which varies stochastically with a mean of 1100 
